The Senate on Tuesday voted to confirm Steven Dettelbach as Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, making him the first leader of the agency approved by the chamber since 2015.
The final vote was 48-46, with Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Rob Portman of Ohio joining all present Democrats to confirm Dettelbach, a former U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Ohio during the Obama administration.
The vote comes amid a spate of mass shootings which have rocked the country, including recent massacres in Buffalo, New York, Uvalde, Texas, and Highland Park, Illinois. It also comes after Congress passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act in response to the violent shootings, the first major gun safety legislation approved by the legislature in decades.
This is a developing story. Check back later for updates.
